Ever since An Inconvenient Truth , Al Gore's eye-opening documentary on global warming opened in 2006, the level of awareness among the general public on environmental issues has skyrocketed. Since then, there have been sobering natio…
The environmental challenges facing our planet are so big and so complex that they often feel far beyond our individual control. But the simple fact is, if we all step up to the challenge and do our part, together we can make a big differen…
Energy usage and cost savings are on everybody’s mind these days— especially those of us in charge of running our buildings, keeping them both comfortable and financially solvent. Each building community is unique, and boards and manager…
Think about this the next time you throw that banana peel, plastic packaging and junk mail away: residents of New York City and its surrounding boroughs are responsible for generating 12,000 tons (that’s right…tons!) of garbage each day. Pi…
While there are a number of issues that make it to the top of the list of building managers’ and board members’ fiscal worries each year, the standout issue in recent years is energy costs. In light of rising fuel prices and increased de…
You don’t need to go too far back to be reminded about energy conservation. Remember the stifling triple-digit heat in August? The power outages in Queens due to the strain on the distribution grids? And the annual call by public officia…
It’s never easy to get people to do what’s good for them. No one wants to exercise or take cough syrup or lay off the T-bone steaks, even if they know life will be better when they do. For years, it’s been the same way with energy conser…
When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office in January of 2002, he inherited a city still reeling from the September 11th terror attacks—and had to fill the not-insignificant shoes of outgoing mayor Rudy Giuliani. Since then, Mayor Bloom…
Energy is a singularly important and pressing issue. Even so, addressing this issue has not yet risen to the top of the list for many apartment managers and co-op boards. For large-scale apartment managers, the mandate to limit exposur…
Co-op and condo owners and managers continue to face operations and maintenance issues that directly affect ownership costs and property marketability. Among these are: building modernization, equipment and building component repairs a…